Wednesday, 6 January 2010

Raoul Deveau was a Catholic parish priest, a predator and a pedophile.It is claimed by two victims in Nova Scotia - there are likely more - that Deveau preyed on them with impunity and that Church officials and possibly others in positions of authority knew what he did yet let him continue.Deveau told Linda Deschamp to call him "uncle" because parishioners and teachers asked him about the relationship; Deveau claimed that she was his orphaned niece. In fact she was a child neglected by her family; he gradually enslaved her by sexually abusing her and forcing her into servitude. She cleaned house and prepared meals for him for over 10 years. Deschamp was 12 years old when Deveau first approached her.

"This is so wrong. You're tired of hiding the secrets. They need to come out and people need to be made aware of that," Deschamp told CBC.

Deschamp said her large family was poor, so she was sent to work for and then live with Raoul Deveau, a parish priest in Shelburne. He died in 1982. She remembers him as a jovial person, a "community god" who seemed genuine about helpingparishioners. She trusted him.

"At first it was consoling and it was, 'poor girl,'" Deschamp said. "It kind of gradually built up — offering me food while I was there, and when you're hungry that looks pretty good as a child. And then it was clothing. And then of course there were trade-offs after that."

Deschamp said the abuse by the man she was forced to call uncle lasted for nine years. She ended up moving with Deveau to another parish. "He had me so dependent on him," she said. "He owned me 100 per cent."

From here. More information here.Institutional collusion between the Catholic Church and local authorities, with regard to the physical, emotional and sexual abuse of children, also occured elsewhere Canada. Hundreds of orphaned or abandoned children suffered like those in Ireland did, in the province of Québec.Bruno Roy died last night; he was instrumental in leading the adult survivors (Duplessis' orphans) in a civil suit that held the government as well as the Catholic Church accountable for the harm that was done.